question

[ido]

I have a Jackie and it says it has accordion reeds,what does that meen? Do vintage concertinas have different reeds? How does it effect it? Feel free to to elaborate.

[Ransom]

I have a Jackie and it says it has accordion reeds,what does that meen? Do vintage concertinas have different reeds? How does it effect it? Feel free to to elaborate.

 

Traditional concertina reeds are different from accordion reeds. Among other differences, accordion reeds are mounted flat on a little plate, and concertina reeds are set in a "shoe" with a beveled bottom corner.

 

Unfortunately for us, there are only a few people who make vintage concertina reeds, compared to accordion reeds. Also, the tuning and setup process is rather labor-intensive. So a set of concertina reeds might easily cost a few thousand dollars more than the same number of accordion reeds (depending somewhat also on the accordion reeds)!

 

As for the difference in sound quality, I expect that's better experienced, rather than explained. Live would be best, of course, but you may have to settle for recorded comparisons, depending on your location.

[TomB-R]

http://www.concertinaconnection.com/concertina%20reeds.htm

[shaunw]

Concertinas with concertina reeds sound different. They they are a completely different instrument

to ones which have accordion reeds. You will have to listen to hear the difference.

[ido]

Are the accordion reeds(in the concertina of course) lowder than concertina reeds?

[JimLucas]

Are the accordion reeds(in the concertina of course) lowder than concertina reeds?

Not necessarily.

[Stephen Chambers]

It's a subject that's been done to death on the Forum (a simple search on the term "accordion reeds" will bring up 4 pages of results ) but, put simply, accordion reeds are used for their cheapness when making less-expensive concertinas.

 

This is because there is an accordion-making industry in the world and reeds for that instrument are readily available, whilst if you want concertina reeds you pretty much have to make them yourself, also accordion reeds are in pairs on rectangular aluminium frames that are mounted (waxed or screwed) onto a simple box-like structure, whilst traditional concertina reeds are clamped individually onto a brass or aluminium "shoe" that is a precisely tapered and dovetailed fit into a slot in the reed pan, which makes the latter a very complex piece of woodworking in its own right...